Mom in Europe

Oh my gosh I´ve been such a bad updater lately! So sorry I´ve been MIA! Life´s been crazy and I´ve just been trying to make it from weekend to weekend! But, my spring break was the week before Easter and I went to Paris with my mom! Well, really, I met her in the airport in Paris... Anyway, a friend who lives outside of Paris came in and picked us up from the airport (which is a good thing since I´m not sure how we would have dealt with all the luggage!) and drove us into Paris to her parent´s flat where we got to stay! It is right next to the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs de L´Elysees (pretty sure I spelled that WRONG!) Anyway, we spent 5 days in Paris and we saw a lot and did a lot of shopping! We also spent a couple of days with our friends that live in Amiens which is outside of Paris! So, I got to see Charlotte and meet her family! We went on the boat tour with them and had a lovely day! Plus, we had fantastic weather!

Then we came back to Madrid for Easter and a few days so I could go to class. Mom stayed in my room at Pilar´s and I slept on the floor in the living room. It was so great to have her there and she got to meet my Spanish family: Pilar, Alvaro, Marucha (aka Muffy b/c Mom can´t say Marucha), Mavi, Pepo, Pablo, las niñas, Paloma and I think that´s all. Anyway, it was fun and I did lots of translating because Pilar speaks no english and Mom speaks no spanish...always a good match. Mom did learn one word: agridulce. That means bittersweet. That is what it will be when I leave in May.

Anyway, after Madrid, we headed for Rome! On the plane, Mom made friends with this cute Italian boy while I slept and he told us about Naples which is where he´s from. So, we decided to go to Naples and Pompei our last day of the trip. So we spent 2 days in Rome and a day in Naples and Pompei. It was great and once again great weather! Except when we finally got to the beach in Naples, it rained...but that´s okay! We had a great time and saw everything you are supposed to see in Rome except St. Peter´s Basilica. That just means we´ll have to go back!

Then, Mom left...tear. :( I went to back to the real world and to school. Then I went to Galicia (the north bit of Spain over Portugal) with IES. We went to A Coruña and Santiago de Compostela which is the 3rd largest Christian pilgrimage site in the world. It´s and incredible church and Galicia is a wonderful place! Our hotel was across the street from the beach and we had a fantastic view! I made some new friends and we had a good time!

This past weekend, I went to a National Spanish Youth Conference called Contra Corriente with my church. It was in Priego de Córdoba which is also known as the Middle of Nowhere and is about 5 hours from Madrid. We took a bus there and camped in this park for 2 nights. My host sister´s friend lent me a tent which I lent to a friend who didn´t have one and I shared with three other girls...the four of us in one tent became good friends really fast! :) But, we had lots of speakers and music and activities! The theme was missions and worship so they had a Worship Tent where there was someone leading worship 24 hours a day! It was a fantastic way to start and end the day! I love singing worship songs in Spanish! So, I made some new friends and spent time with not-so-new-but-not-quite-old friends!

This Tuesday and Wednesday are fiesta so I don´t have school. Unfortunately, my program decided to have class on Monday so I have to go and then am just going to hang out in madrid on my days off.

Today begins the 20 day countdown until I come home. I´m not quite sure how I feel about it except that I know I´m pumped to see my friends and family but not to happy about leaving Spain. Definitely agridulce! I will add pictures to explain things better soon! Right now I´m at my internship so I don´t have access to pictures that are on my computer at home. But, soon, I promise!

Everyone take care!